Poems

The Bombing of Baghdad

1began and did not terminate for 42 daysand 42 nights relentless minute after minutemore than 110,000 timeswe bombed Iraq we bombed Baghdadwe bombed Basra/we bombed militaryinstallations we bombed the National Museumwe bombed schools we bombed air raidshelters we bombed water we bombedelectricity we bombed hospitals webombed streets we bombed highwayswe bombed everything that moved/webombed everything that did not move webombed Baghdada city of 5.5 million human beingswe bombed radio towers we bombedtelephone poles we bombed mosqueswe bombed runways we bombed tankswe bombed trucks we bombed cars we bombed bridgeswe bombed the darkness we bombedthe sunlight we bombed them and webombed them and we cluster bombed the citizensof Iraq and we sulfur bombed the citizens of Iraqand we napalm bombed the citizens of Iraq and we complemented these bombings/these “sorties” withTomahawk cruise missiles which we shotrepeatedly by the thousands upon thousandsinto Iraq(you understand an Iraqi Scud missileis quote militarily insignificant unquote and wedo not mess around with insignificant)so we used cruise missiles repeatedly we fired them into IraqAnd I am not pleasedI am not very pleasedNone of this fits into my notion of “things going very well”

2The bombing of Baghdaddid not obliterate the distance or the timebetween my body and the breathof my beloved

3This was Custer’s Next-To-Last StandI hear Crazy Horse singing as he diesI dedicate myself to learn that songI hear that music in the moaning of the Arab world

4Custer got accustomed to just doing his jobPushing westward into gloryMaking promisesSearching for the savages/their fragiletemporary settlementsfor raising children/dancing down the rain/and prayingfor the mercy of a herd of buffaloCuster/he pursued these savagesHe attacked at dawn He murdered the men/murdered the boysHe captured the women and convertedthem (I’m sure)to his religionOh, how gently did he bid his darling fiancéefarewell!How sweet the gaze her eyes bestowed upon her warrior!Loaded with guns and gunpowder he embracedthe guts and gore of manifest white destinyHe pushed westwardto annihilate the savages(“Attack at dawn!”)and seize their territories seize their women seize their natural wealth

5And I am cheering for the arrowsand the braves

6And all who believed some must diethey were already deadAnd all who believe only they possesshuman being and therefore human rightsthey no longer stood among the possibly humaneAnd all who believed that retaliation/revenge/defensederive from God-given prerogatives of white menAnd all who believed that waging war is anything besides terrorist activity in the first place and in the lastAnd all who believed that F-15s/F-16s/ “Apache” helicopters/B-52 bombers/smart bombs/dumb bombs/napalm/artillery/battleships/nuclear warheads amount to anything otherthan terrorist tools of a terrorist undertakingAnd all who believed that holocaust means something that only happens to white peopleAnd all who believed that Desert Storm signified anything besides the delivery of an American holocaust against the peoples of the Middle EastAll who believed these thingsthey were already deadThey no longer stood among the possibly humane

And this is for Crazy Horse singing as he diesbecause I live inside his graveAnd this is for the victims of the bombing of Baghdadbecause the enemy traveled from my house to blast your homeland into pieces of children and pieces of sand

And in the aftermath of carnageperpetrated in my namehow should I dare to offer you my handhow shall I negotiate the implications of my shame?

My heart cannot confrontthis death without reliefMy soul will not controlthis leaking of my grief

And this is for Crazy Horse singing as he diesAnd here is my song of the livingwho must sing against the dyingsing to join the livingwith the dead